Expert Advice

Tips for Setting up Your Campaign

Schedule your fundraiser to finish before a holiday or special occasion so the fudge can be given as gifts. General rule of thumb is to start the process for your campaign two months before a holiday.

Best times include Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, End of School Year, July 4th, Father’s Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or a special time for your organization or cause. You will receive the fudge just before those dates, as will be agreed upon when finalizing the campaign arrangements with us.

Schedule a campaign to take place for 2 to 4 weeks. Longer than that and people tend to forget, shorter, and people can run out of time.

Do not run two fundraising campaigns at the same time, as it will reduce sales for both.

Tips for Raising as much as Possible

Your first “sale” is the one YOU have to make: getting participants engaged and committed to this fudge campaign to help raise money for your group/cause/team, etc. The more people you can convince to participate, the easier it will be to reach your campaign fundraising goals.

Make sure you have a fundraising sales goal and a clear reason whyyou are raising money. You want to train the participants to tell potential buyers clearly about your campaign goal and mission.

Once you know how many participants there will be, figure out how many boxes each person should try to sell in order to reach the team’s goal. This will help them focus on doing their part.

Remind everyone that the one who sells the most will receive a free box of fudge!

Download and customize the sample letters to make it easy to communicate to your team members. It is imperative that you stay in touch with them if you want to run a successful campaign. The more contact you have with them, the more everyone will stay focused on the campaign.

Tips for Running a Smooth Campaign

Have a kick-off event, where everyone can taste the fudge for him or herself and receive everything each person will need to get orders. At this event, you can assign or ask for volunteers to help you run and administer the fundraiser. (Volunteers can be helpful with checking orders and organizing the fudge once you receive it.)

If time allows, allow a day after your team turns in all the order sheets and money, on the chance that someone will be late. Once you compile all the orders and mail them with a check to The Mill Fudge Factory, no additions or changes can be made. Be sure to mail the complete package to arrive at The Mill Fudge Factory by the agreed upon time.

Before mailing your individual order forms along with your master order form, make copies for your records.

Do NOT send cash. If you receive cash, simply convert into a personal check or money order that you can then mail.

Make sure to double-check all orders and funds before sending your order.

We request individual order forms (or copies) to be submitted with the order in case we have any questions. However, we fill the order based only on flavor totals on the master order form.

As soon as you receive your fudge, please check all flavor totals against your master order form. If errors are found at this point, we will take full responsibility for them. (If errors are discovered based on individual order forms however, it will be difficult to know where the mistake occurred and thus we cannot fairly take responsibility for any missing or incorrect product.

Tips for Selling Fudge

Understand WHY you are raising money. Make sure every team member is also clear on the WHY.

Reach out to all your friends, family, and neighbors to see if they’ll support you. Consider asking local businesses, business leaders, and community groups.

Ask parents to take a brochure and order form to work to take orders on your behalf.

Here is a sample sales pitch that includes your sales goals and REASON for selling:

“Hi, my school/team/group is trying to raise $____ in order to ______. Would you support us by buying a few boxes of handcrafted fudge? The fudge was chosen as some of the best fudge in America and makes perfect _____gifts.”

Try not to be nervous. Think of this campaign as giving people an opportunity to support you and something you are passionate about, all while getting some of the best fudge in the world! Most people will be happy for the opportunity to contribute.

Remember – the one on your team with the highest sales gets a free box of fudge and huge bragging rights!

Safety Tips

Never allow young children to solicit orders alone. They should always be in the company of a responsible adult.

For children especially, do not sell after dark, don't sell to strangers, don't sell alone.

Do not give out personal information about yourself - and parents, make sure the kids know this.

Never allow children to enter homes or unsecured areas.

Never allow children to carry collected monies, unless they are supervised by a responsible adult.